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Prefold Cloth Diapers – a Tutorial!

We are a cloth diapering family. There are lots of reasons for this [any of which I could happily discuss with you if you are curious!] … I love not filling landfills with poopy diapers, I love putting cloth on my baby’s bum versus a disposable, and I absolutely L.O.V.E. not having to shell out all that money each month for diapers.

And seriously, how cute is that?

But I’ll be honest, my budget doesn’t allow for me to buy lots of “fancy” cloth diapers – the kind that go on just like a disposable. And if you haven’t guessed by now reading my blog, I am uber-cheap. So when my second son was born (and I had two in dipes!), I made a set of prefold diapers. If you’re not familiar with the term, these would be like the “old school” diapers that our parents or grandparents would have used.

Prefold diapers are perfect for anyone who wants to try cloth diapering, especially if you are on a budget, because they are SO inexpensive to make yourself.

Here’s what you’ll need:

flannel (the amount you need will depend on how many diapers you want to make)
microfiber towels for absorbent insert (you could also use terry cloth)*
sewing supplies

*I use microfiber towels that I buy at Sam’s Club. They come in a 24 pack for less than $10, I think. You can also find these in the automotive section of many stores.

1. Prewash your fabric – this is especially important for the microfiber towels. I’ve found that some of these towels will bleed color, so I always wash them several times on hot.

2. Cut your flannel. These are the sizes that I found to work for me, but you can easily adjust the sizes to meet your needs.

Small (Infant-sized) Prefold: 12.5in. x 21in. — when folded, it should be about 12.5 x 10.5in.

Medium Prefold: 14.5in. x 27in. — when folded, it should be about 14.5 x 13.5in.

Large Prefold: 16in. x 29in. — when folded, it should be about 16 x 14.5in. [This is the perfect size for my 19 mo. old, until he grows even a little bit]

*There really isn’t a huge difference between the medium and large sizes, so it may not be that important to you to make both sizes. If you make only the larger size, you can always fold down the front a little. I like having them be a little more trim and not have too much bulk – especially for the newborn size. Plus, my microfiber towels are only 16in. long, so my prefolds can’t be longer than that.

You want to make sure that when you fold your fabric, the folded edge is the longer side.

3. Cut the microfiber towels for the absorbent panel.

These inserts should be the length of the folded edge, for example:

Large size prefold: 16 x 4.5in. — I use three of these in the large size

Medium size prefold: 14 x 4.5 in. — I use three of these in the medium size

Small size prefold: 12 x 4in. — I use two of these in the small size

4. Fold the flannel (as shown above), with right sides together. Sew the longer side together. (I used a serger, but you could also zig-zag with a regular machine)

5. You will have created a tube – turn that right side out, with the seam in the center.

5. Stack the microfiber pieces together and place them inside the flannel – centered in the middle

6. Zig-zag stitch along either side of the microfiber.

It will look like this:

7. Serge or zig-zag the short edges, trimming the microfiber insert if necessary.

8. Now go put your baby in your new prefold!

(This is the newborn size… obviously I don’t have a newborn yet, so this baby doll was the next best thing! :)

Note: prefold diapers need a cover. The covers that I used when E was a baby were so good that I didn’t need to use pins or anything.

Here’s the newborn sized prefold compared to a newborn disposable diaper, just to give you an idea of the size. [When you put it on your baby, it can be tighter and more fitted than this picture looks]

I would love to cloth diaper, but like you I am uber-cheep and when I look at the prices of the cloth diapers or covers I cringe. I’m sure I’ve spent WAY more now on disposable, but I don’t want to commit to a cover unless I know for sure I’ll love it. You said the covers you used were so good. What kind do you use?

I used the Thirsties covers when my guy was an infant, and they were awesome! They really held in those newborn poop blowouts! I did make some wool covers that I used, but those (in my opinion) weren’t as great for prefolds, because they didn’t hold in poop as well. And I didn’t like cleaning that off of the wool covers! I have also used the Econobum covers from Cotton Babies – they are nice too, but not quite as sturdy as the Thirsties. The Econobum, though, are very inexpensive and also can be used for multiple sizes. The Thirsties covers (I didn’t use the Duo – just the regular cover) are sized, but are pretty generous. I used the XS on my nearly 9lb baby for quite awhile. I hope that helps! :)

Ok, I am stoked about this tutorial and I don’t even have a baby, ha. I just keep thinking of all of the adorable flannel prints out there…well, I guess now I’ll know what to do when we do start having kids!

These would also totally work as awesome burp rages… i didnt cloth diaper, but i loved the prefolds as a more absorbent burpy… now i know how to make my own and make them more adorable! :) the regular burpy tutorials i have found dont seem like they would be as absorbent, i love the idea of using the towels… why didnt i think of this?!

Have you found different levels of success with different fabrics for the insert? (like hemp, or cotton?) I assume the tutorial work exactly the same, just switch out the fabric you like best, right? I’ve heard hemp is one of the best, but I know it can be expensive.